By Kieran – Grade 5
In June of 1939 John was only 18 months old. His mom and John were in their 1934 Chevy, driving on their way to his grandparents’ house for a visit. On the way John’s mother got distracted by people building a new farm beside the road. She drove across the street to see what it looked like, but little did she know she was driving across the train tracks! Then the ground started to rumble. She started to get nervous and at the last second she saw the train, but it was too late! There was a COLOSSAL BANG with a big BOOM and a CRASH! The train had split the whole car in half. The front half of the car that his mom was in went on the road, and the other half of the car that John was in travelled 500 feet down the track.
John and his mom were rushed to the Orangeville Hospital by a person who saw the crash. His mom’s ear had been ripped off during the crash and was just hanging from a little piece of skin. John got a big concussion and some scratches on his eyebrows. John had to stay in the hospital for a month, but his mom had gotten out of the hospital a little earlier. This was an incredible accident. They were incredibly lucky because they could have died. Unbelievably John’s dad, a mechanic, was able to weld the whole car back together. Cars were expensive back then and they didn’t want to buy a new one.
